Wymeswold School is a small, friendly village school. The children had many excellent ideas for their ideal buildings. There were lots of references to buildings incorporating sports facilities, which is something that children from all areas have wanted to do more of: ‘different floors for different sports’; ‘my building is shaped as a rugby ball in a holder. It has an electronic roof which can be closed when the weather’s bad.’ One house is designed as a games house. There are seven floors with different activities on each floor.

Working at Wymeswold School it was quite apparent that these children were in some aspects more fortunate due to the fact they were from well-off backgrounds although many were also from broken families. We found the children seemed to do lots of things after school and there didn’t seem to be the problem of cost encountered elsewhere. The children seemed to be very happy in what they did after school and some of the activities were as follows: horse-riding, playing instruments, driving tractors, and football. These children still didn’t seem to play out freely because it was considered unsafe but they were very well entertained.

We perceived that the children had an awareness of how fortunate they were which we found impressive. We felt that the kids loved the rural aspect of the area - no desire to live in a bigger place. They were quite open to mixing with other kids both from inner city areas and from larger towns, and they didn’t mind travelling to other places to do after school activities. Activities seemed to be very varied but there didn’t seem to be much of a community feel about what was available as a whole and where things were. We were impressed by the headteacher who was very supportive of the project and encouraged the children to think for themselves and make up their own minds about things.

In their body outline survey the children at Wymeswold School firmly placed parents and friends along with who was the adult in charge as key factors related to their after school activities.
Buildings, money, activities and choice came next. Toys, equipment, culture, transport and space were less important.

The children’s ideas for ideal buildings were highly imaginative and showed the ability of these children to form very rounded pictures and be aware of processes. They clearly understood the potential to dream and create a fantasy environment and were very articulate in their expression. It is interesting to compare this with the aspirations of children in the other schools. There is a very clear expression of their interests and some great ideas for the development of after school approaches and activities:

‘I would like to live in Hogwarts Castle. I have seen Harry Potter the film. I think it was good. The shape of my castle is like a triangle on the top of the building. Some stupid children play stupid tricks… The building is magic and Harry Potter works there. He teaches the children how to do magic tricks after school. This building can go anywhere it likes by flying and this week it’s coming to Wymeswold School.’

“I’ve made a golf stadium. It has five floors. On the first floor there’s a bar, on the second floor there are shops, on the third floor there are TVs, on the fourth there’s a library and on the fifth floor there are golf sessions. The lifts are golf balls. The door is a golf club.”

‘My building is a castle for boys and girls to play in after school. It’s a normal house but girls and boys are allowed to run around without being told off. The only time an adult appears is to cook and serve food. My building is a rest castle, it’s for children and adults to rest and have a nice time and relax after school and work. There are lots of things to do inside and you can also buy old artefacts. You can buy food there too.’
‘This is what I would like to do after school. I decided to draw a camp especially for boys of course. The tickets are £2 only. It says it in the right bottom corner. At the top of my picture it says the Boys Camp. In the camp, I’d sit by the fire and eat roast chicken and things like that. We’d play singsongs and go out and explore. In the morning we’d go canoeing and do archery, like at PGL.’
‘My building is for dogs and children to play. The children can go and feed them, stroke them and take them for a walk. It’s also possible for children to hire the dogs out and if they want to buy them they cost £1. There is a huge dog which is that big it can take babies and small children for rides round the garden. Upstairs there is a big row of small dogs and these are those that need walking and feeding.’

‘This building is for musicians and wannabe musicians. My building has a musical door handle and when pulled it makes different notes. The guitar handle is a lift and when passing new floors different tunes are played. This would be my dream after-school place.’

‘I’ve made a snakes and ladders house. Inside, snakes and ladders tournaments are held. There are 7 floors. On the first floor there is a corridor with letters about tournaments. On the second floor there is a board to play snakes and ladders. On the third floor there is the hall of fame. On the fourth floor there are shops. On the fifth floor there are snake collector cards. On the sixth floor there are snakes and ladders clothes. On the seventh floor there is snakes and ladders sports stuff.’

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